April 6, 2013

Dear Family & Friends,
 While all of you are enjoying Conference in your homes we have to wait for two weeks to watch it. Thank goodness for computers. We should be able to read and listen to some of the talks this next week. We are looking forward to hearing from our Prophet and the apostles. Conference is always a great time to be reminded of those things the Lord would have us do to improve our lives.
On Monday night we had a family home evening with all the couples and the lesson was on The Tender Mercies of the Lord a talk given by David A. Bednar in the Feb. 2012 Ensign. We talked about all the tender mercies we have felt on our mission and how the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. If you stop and think about all of the events that happen in your life on a daily basis and looked at all that you were blessed with those are gifts from God. Elder Bednar said, "The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individual blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindness, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ." When you stop and think about each of these things you realize that you have been blessed in so many ways. Each day we feel that our life is being touched and directed by the Lord. We couldn't accomplish all that is required of us without his help. You will be trying to solve a problem and not sure how to do it when an idea pops into your head and you are then able to solve the problem. An example of this occurred yesterday. I was prompted to call and check on a flight that was to leave today. When the call was made the flight had been cancelled and no one had notified us. I had to rebook the flight. If I hadn't followed the prompting President and Sister Adams would have gone to the airport and not had a flight. The drive to the airport takes about an hour. Everyday we are blessed with help to accomplish our mission here and we are very grateful for that help.
We had a sister missionary come into the mission this week, she is from Madagascar and will be a great addition to our mission. This week and next the President is doing interviews so we have had the missionaries in the office which is always nice. We went to inspect apartments on Thursday and 4 out of 5 passed which is much better than our last visit. Word got out we were coming.
In closing we send our love to all of you and hope you are all doing well. We hope you will feel the Lord's tender mercies  in your lives and that you feel his love for you.
Elder & Sister Cornelius